“This is certainly not what we understood from the Prime Minister’s announcement of ‘One Nation One Tax’. We, as an industry, are suffering and it has only been a few days since the [GST] roll-out,” complained Phulkaran Singh Atwal, the chairman of the All India Motor Transport Congress and president of the Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar Association.

“All old taxes are still being charged despite the GST roll-out. In fact, drivers are being harassed in the name of more taxes than before,” claimed Sanjay Samrat of the Delhi Taxi Tourist Transporters’ Association....

At a nameless dhaba across the road, a little over half-a-dozen men sit huddled around a television playing a Vinod Khanna-starrer from the 1990s as a handful more catch up on sleep on charpoys. Utter the word GST and the attention shifts.

“If business continues to suffer like it has since Saturday, I’ll have to sell my organs to feed my children,” complains Ram Niwas, a driver. “There is just no work these days. Barring completing previous orders, there is not even a single reason to be on the road any more,” he adds.

Shakir spots an acquaintance from his village a few hundred metres from Kherki Daula toll and Alim pulls over for another quick chat with fellow truckers at a small tea shop; a dozen other vehicles are present. GST is the topic of discussion.

“We have no problem with the government wanting to unite all taxes in one but when it affects the flame of my stove, I can’t just stand by and watch. I’ve only managed to persuade my employer to let me make one trip in the last four days. The less I travel, the less I make,” complained Ranjan Shinde, a trucker from Thane headed to Jaipur.

Tanveer Jagga, who is ferrying quilts from Jaipur to Delhi, says, “Even our employers haven’t been able to understand GST despite an army of chartered accountants, forget uneducated people like us. I just hope the government and the suppliers sort it out soon. We have more mouths to feed than them.”